1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for simulating operation of an object and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly, to a method for manipulating a simulation during verification of simulation of design data in a virtual or real-world space and an apparatus therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of machine design, three-dimensional CAD systems are employed that enable users to design a mechanism and its components with stereoscopic display of the mechanism and components. Systems of this type have an ability to simulate operation of components of a mechanism for aiding in development of a control program for controlling active components such as an actuator and a motor, or sensors, for example, without having to actually assemble the mechanism. A three-dimensional CAD system capable of such simulation is disclosed by Japanese Patent No. 03897948, for instance. Also, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-195971, some three-dimensional CAD systems enable a user to design while performing an operational simulation using data designed with multiple CAD systems.
For a simulation to validate design data, various parameters are set. For example, as disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-277084, there is a parameter setting method in which input parameters for multiple simulation modules are set on a GUI.
Meanwhile, studies on Mixed Reality (MR) which aims to seamlessly combine a real-world space with a virtual space have been actively conducted in recent years. An image display apparatus for presenting Mixed Reality has such a configuration as follows, for example. The apparatus displays an image which is formed by rendering an image of a virtual space (e.g., a virtual object drawn with computer graphics or text information) generated according to the position and orientation of an imaging apparatus, such as a video camera, over an image of a real-world space captured by the imaging apparatus. For such an apparatus, a head-mounted display (HMD) can be employed, for example.
Such an image display apparatus can also be realized by an optical see-through scheme, which displays an image of virtual space generated according to the viewpoint position and orientation of an observer on an optical see-through display worn by the observer on the head.
Such image display apparatuses have been applied to surgery assistance which displays an image showing the inside of a patient's body over his body surface, and Mixed Reality games in which players fight against virtual enemies floating in a real-world space. Further applications include navigation systems to display the name of or information on famous buildings or the like included in an image of a real-world space obtained by taking a picture of a town as a virtual-space image over the real-space image, landscape simulation to display a computer-graphics picture of a building that is scheduled to be constructed over an image obtained by taking a picture of the site where the building is going to be built, and design aiding systems that superimpose data designed with a 3D CAD system on a result of analysis (Computer Aided Engineering or CAE) conducted based on the design data, in a real-world space, for example. Such a design aiding system is disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-048271, for instance. Hereinafter, a space in which Mixed Reality is presented using such an image display apparatus will be referred to as a Mixed-Reality space while a space to present virtual reality will be referred to as a virtual-reality space.
By the way, various types of user interface for manipulating virtual space have been proposed in relation to image display apparatuses to present a Mixed Reality or virtual-reality space to an observer. As disclosed by Japanese Patent No. 03373296, for instance, there is a user interface that generates information on an action a user intends to do from the result of measuring the head position and orientation of the user and the result of measuring the position and orientation of a certain body part of the user. Another type of user interface determines operation and internal state of a virtual object from the result of measuring the position and orientation of the user's certain body part, as disclosed by Japanese Patent No. 03517639, for example.
By combining these techniques, it is possible to make a model created with three-dimensional CAD or the like operate by simulation and superimpose the result of simulation as a virtual-space image on a real-world space to check the result of simulation.
In existing systems, however, setting such as addition and modification of parameters for use in simulation has to be made on a screen and simulation parameters cannot be set by an observer's motion or manipulation in a real-world space. Consequently, manipulation performed by the observer during observation of a simulation in a virtual-reality or Mixed-Reality space cannot be reflected in the result of simulation.